A swift reaction of attentive interest set in.

"Do tell us what you dreamt," came in a chorus.

"The really remarkable thing about it is that I've dreamt it two nights
running," said Lola, finally deciding between the allurements of sausages
and kedgeree; "that is why I thought it worth mentioning. You know, when
I dream things two or three nights in succession, it always means
something; I have special powers in that way. For instance, I once
dreamed three times that a winged lion was flying through the sky and one
of his wings dropped off, and he came to the ground with a crash; just
afterwards the Campanile at Venice fell down. The winged lion is the
symbol of Venice, you know," she added for the enlightenment of those who
might not be versed in Italian heraldry. "Then," she continued, "just
before the murder of the King and Queen of Servia I had a vivid dream of
two crowned figures walking into a slaughter-house by the banks of a big
river, which I took to be the Danube; and only the other day--"

"Do tell us what you've dreamt about the Derby," interrupted Odo
impatiently.

"Well, I saw the finish of the race as clearly as anything; and one horse
won easily, almost in a canter, and everybody cried out 'Bread and Butter
wins! Good old Bread and Butter.' I heard the name distinctly, and I've
had the same dream two nights running."

"Bread and Butter," said Mrs. de Claux, "now, whatever horse can that
point to? Why--of course; Nursery Tea!"

She looked round with the triumphant smile of a successful unraveller of